Protective headgear and helmets have been used in a wide variety of applications and across a number of industries including sports, athletics, construction, mining, military defense, and others, to prevent damage to a user's head and brain. Damage and injury to a user can be prevented or reduced by helmets that prevent hard objects or sharp objects from directly contacting the user's head. Damage and injury to a user can also be prevented or reduced by helmets that absorb, distribute, or otherwise manage energy of an impact. Straps or webbing are typically used to allow a user to releasably wear their helmet, and to ensure the helmet remains on the user's head during an impact.
When straps or webbing are used to releasably couple a helmet to a user's head, a helmet anchoring system or attachment system generally comprises strapping attachment points that couple the one or more straps the helmet. Like the helmet and straps, the strapping attachment points undergo large loading forces during impacts whether during an accident or for testing of various safety standards. By ensuring the helmet-strap attachment points are robust and can withstand the forces of impacts, the user can be safeguarded from untimely dis-attachment of the webbing system during mishap.
Strap attachment or anchoring systems for helmets have conventionally been of two different types: 1) in-molded straps, and 2) post molded straps. In-molded strap attachment is used for in-molded helmets in which a protective shell is formed of a molded material, such as expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam or other material. The protective shell can be formed by injecting or expanding material, such as beads of plastic or foam, into a helmet mold under specific conditions, such as temperature, to allow for the formation of protective material within the mold. After molding is complete, the helmet or portion of the helmet can be removed from the mold for completion and use. In-molded straps are incorporated into the helmet, and attached thereto, during the molding process. Attachment straps or webbing can be disposed within the helmet mold at the time of molding so that straps are incorporated as part of the helmet. Temperature and other conditions of the molding process are controlled to ensure the straps or webbing will not be damaged by the helmet molding process. Post molded straps, as described below are attached after the formation or molding of the helmet or protective shell.
For conventional post-molding attachment of straps there are two common types of attachment: 1) riveting straps or webbing to an external shell of the helmet, such as external shells formed of (ABS), and 2) attaching webbing to in-molded mount features. The in-molded mount features can be incorporated into the helmet, and attached thereto, during the molding process by disposing the in-molded mount features within the helmet mold at the time of molding so that the in-molded mount features are incorporated as part of the helmet. The straps or webbing can be coupled to the in-molded mount features, as shown and discussed below, with respect to FIG. 1 and FIGS. 2A-2D.
A first approach for coupling straps or webbing to in-molded mount features can be referred to as a snow anchor method or a ski anchor method. An example of a traditional snow anchor is shown below in FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 shows a strap anchor, snow anchor, or ski type strap anchor 10 that has been conventionally used for in-molded helmets, including ski helmets or other snow helmets, for coupling a strap to the in-molded helmet. The strap anchor 10 can comprise two basic portions, i) a strap anchor body 14, which can include the opening 12 and ii) a web, reinforcing attachment, fins, parachutes, anchoring geometry, or reinforcing attachment point 16 that couples the strap anchor 10 to a helmet or helmet body.
The opening 12 of the strap anchor 10 can receive a strap can be inserted into the opening to couple the strap to the strap anchor 10. Afterwards, the strap can then couple the ski helmet to a head of a user. When the strap anchor 10 is coupled to the helmet, the web 16 of the strap anchor 10 can be disposed within an energy-absorbing material or layer of the helmet, such as a layer of expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam or other suitable material. The web 16 can be sufficiently large, and include sufficient anchoring geometry, to secure the strap anchor 10 to the helmet by fixing the web 16 within the energy-absorbing material and remain firmly coupled during impacts. When the ski anchor 10 is coupled to a helmet body, the web 16 can be imbedded within the helmet body.
The strap or webbing of the helmet can be coupled to the strap anchor 10 by forming a loop in an end of the strap and inserting a pin through the loop of the strap. The loop in the webbing can be formed by folding and end of the strap or webbing over on itself and securing the end of the strap to a center portion of the strap with a bar tack, i.e. sewing. Then, the pin can be disposed through the loop in the strap, and the pin can then be secured to the strap anchor body 14 by disposing the pin and a portion of the strap into the opening 12 in the lower portion of the strap anchor body 14 on an inside of the helmet. As used herein the inside or in-bound side of the helmet refers to the side of the helmet that is adjacent or touches the head of the user, is opposite the outside of the helmet or both.
As such, traditional snow anchors such as strap anchor 10 shown in FIG. 1 remain visible to the consumer after the helmet is formed. Additionally, the attachment apparatus of the helmet, i.e. the metal pin securing the closed loop end of the webbing, is also visible. Because the strap anchor 10 is attached or coupled to the strap on the inside surface of the helmet, a plastic outer shell of the in-molded helmet, which is usually present at the time of in-molding, does not need to be integrated, modified, or sized with the strap anchor 10 because the plastic outer shell and the strap anchor 10 are separated by the in-molded material.
As shown in FIGS. 2A-2D, another method or apparatus commonly used is a shell-mounted anchor or housing 20. The shell-mounted anchor 20 can be similar to the traditional strap anchor 10 in some respects, but differs from the traditional strap anchor 10 by being affixed to the plastic shell, wherein the shell-mounted anchor 20 can be in-molded with the plastic shell 22 at a same time to secure the shell-mounted anchor 20 to a hole, opening, or punched hole in the plastic shell 22. In some instances, the shell-mounted anchor 20 is attached to the shell 22 by snapping the shell-mounted anchor 20 into a punched hole in the shell, the hole being sized to fit and hold by friction, the shell-mounted anchor 20. As such, the anchor 20 can be disposed within an energy management material 23 of the in-molded helmet 25.
FIG. 2A shows that only the bottom most portion of the shell-mounted anchor 20, such as a bottom portion of a strap anchor over-mold clip or over-molded snap engagement feature 24 that is visible to the user, and that a strap anchor snap tab, anchor engagements, fins, or webs 26 that are hidden below the plastic shell 22. FIG. 2B, included below, shows a side view of an example of an entire shell-mounted anchor 20 pictured outside the shell 22 and a helmet, such as before the shell-mounted anchor 20 is mounted to the shell 22 and within a helmet.
FIG. 2B is labeled to indicate that the shell mounted anchor clip 20 can be coupled to webbing or strap 28, and can comprise a strap anchor over-mold clip 24, and a cover 30. The strap anchor over-mold clip 24 can be formed over an end of webbing 28 with a plastic injection strap anchor over-mold clip 24 that can be mateably inserted into the strap anchor snap tab 26 after the helmet is molded. Insertion of the over-mold clip 24 into the strap anchor 26 can be a one-way trip. In other words, once the over-mold clip 24 is inserted to the strap anchor 26, the over-mold clip 24 and strap anchor 26 will permanently, and not releasably, coupled so that the over-mold clip 24 will not release unless the over-mold clip 24, the strap anchor 26, or both are destroyed. The shell mounted anchor 20 and system for using the same can be desirable for its cosmetic appearance, among other things.
FIG. 2C, similar to FIG. 2A, shows a close-up perspective view of the over-mold clip 24 coupled to the bottom most portion of the shell-mounted anchor 20, as shown in FIG. 2B, and exposed from the plastic shell 22. FIG. 2C also provides the additional detail of the webbing 28 coupled to the shell-mounted anchor and extending from the over-mold clip 24.
FIG. 2D shows a cross-sectional profile view of shell-mounted anchor 20 taken along section-line 2D-2D shown in FIG. 2B. The cross-sectional view of FIG. 2D shows how the over-molded clip 24 engages with the strap anchor snap tab 26 within the shell-mounted anchor 20.